Salman Khan (Birth name - 'Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan') (Hindi: [səlˈmɑːn ˈxɑːn]; born 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who predominantly works in Hindi films. In a career spanning over three decades, his awards include two National Film Awards as a film producer, and two Filmfare Awards as an actor. He has been cited in the media as one of the most popular and commercially successful actors of Indian cinema. Forbes included him in listings of the highest-paid celebrities in the world, in 2015 and 2018. He has starred in the annual highest-grossing Hindi films of 10 individual years, the highest for any actor.

Khan began his acting career with a supporting role in Biwi Ho To Aisi (1988), followed by his breakthrough with a leading role in Sooraj Barjatya's romantic drama Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), for which he was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He established himself with several commercially successful films, including Lawrence D'Souza's romantic drama Saajan (1991), Barjatya's family dramas Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994) and Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999), the action film Karan Arjun (1995) and the comedy Biwi No.1 (1999). After a period of mixed success in romantic comedy, musicals and tragedy drama in 2000s, Khan resurrected his screen image with the action film Wanted (2009), and achieved greater stardom the following decade by starring in the top-grossing action films Dabangg (2010), Ready (2011), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Dabangg 2 (2012), Kick (2014), and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), and the dramas Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) and Sultan (2016). This was followed by a series of poorly-received films which either failed or underperformed at the box office, with the exception of Bharat (2019) and Tiger 3 (2023).

In addition to his acting career, Khan is a television presenter and promotes humanitarian causes through his charity, Being Human Foundation. He has been hosting the reality show Bigg Boss since 2010. Khan's off-screen life is marred by controversy and legal troubles. In 2015, he was convicted of culpable homicide for a negligent driving case in which he ran over five people with his car, killing one, but his conviction was set aside on appeal. On 5 April 2018, Khan was convicted in a blackbuck poaching case and sentenced to five years imprisonment. On 7 April 2018, he was out on bail while an appeal was ongoing.

Khan born as 'Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan'; is the eldest son of screenwriter Salim Khan and his first wife Sushila Charak, who adopted the name Salma. Born to a Muslim father and Hindu mother on 27 December 1965, Salman Khan was brought up in both faiths. In 1981, when Salim married the actress Helen, the children's relationship with their father grew hostile and only recovered years later.

Salman Khan's paternal great-grandparents are believed to be Alakozai Pashtuns from Afghanistan who immigrated to Indore State, Indore Residency (now in Madhya Pradesh), British India in the mid-1800s; however, Jasim Khan in his biography of the actor states that his ancestors belonged to the Akuzai sub-tribe of the Yusufzai Pashtuns from Malakand in the Swat Valley of North-West Frontier Province, British India (present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan). His grandfather Abdul Rashid Khan was a Deputy Inspector General of the Indore state who was awarded the Diler Jung award of the Holkar times. Khan's mother is a homemaker, whose father Baldev Singh Charak, a Dogra Rajput, comes from Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir and whose Maratha mother comes from Maharashtra. Khan can also speak Marathi, in addition to Hindi and English. He has two brothers, Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan; and two sisters, Alvira Khan Agnihotri, who is married to actor-director Atul Agnihotri, and an adopted sister Arpita, who is married to actor Aayush Sharma.

Salman finished his schooling at St. Stanislaus High School in Bandra, Mumbai, as did his younger brothers Arbaaz and Sohail. Previously, he studied at The Scindia School in Gwalior for a few years along with his younger brother Arbaaz. He attended St. Xavier's College in Mumbai but dropped out.

Salman Khan made his on-screen debut in 1988 with a supporting role in the successful film Biwi Ho To Aisi, which had Rekha in the lead role. The following year, he played the main lead in Sooraj Barjatya's romantic musical Maine Pyar Kiya opposite Bhagyashree. The film backed up with chartbuster music went on to become an All Time Blockbuster at the box office and made Khan a star. It also won him Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.

He began the new decade with Deepak Shivdasani's action drama film Baaghi: A Rebel for Love (1990), which he also wrote. Baaghi opened to positive critical reception and was a box office hit. Khan's dream run continued in 1991 with two of his films, Sanam Bewafa and Saajan emerging blockbusters and their soundtracks proving to be two of the best-selling Hindi film albums of that year. His other releases of the year, Kurbaan and Patthar Ke Phool also performed well commercially and proved to be major commercial successes. Khan followed it with a downturn as all of his films for the next two years, including biggies Jaagruti (1992) and Chandra Mukhi (1993) were critical and commercial failures.